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I'm currently an 0L, but I'm pretty sure that I want to end up in the SF bay area in the long run. The chatter from this year's HLS OCI was that SF was pretty tough to crack, and NY was the easiest. I've also heard that Stanford grads have recently had a definitive advantage over Harvard grads when getting SF jobs (presumably because of in-state ties). My questions are:

-How profound are the differences between the schools with regards to SF employment odds?
-Would it be helpful to look for 0L and 1L summer jobs in the bay area to demonstrate interest/ties to the area, or will this not make much of a difference?
-If SF remains difficult to crack, would it be more prudent to work at a firm in a better market and then try to lateral to the west coast?

Thanks in advance!

Are you currently in CA now? I think people who're actually from CA did substantially better than those that aren't when it comes to LA or SF jobs from HLS.

vanwinkle wrote:Are you currently in CA now? I think people who're actually from CA did substantially better than those that aren't when it comes to LA or SF jobs from HLS.

I'm not. I've spent a couple months in CA but don't have any "convincing" ties there.

Transfer to Stanford

HLS and Boalt have an exchange program that allows HLS students to do 3L at Boalt (and vice versa). My instinct is to say that this is a little late in the game since you would be starting your year in the Bay immediately after your SA; however, it could be something you to try to sell to SF employers at OCI... "I love the Bay Area! I love it so much I am planning to spend my 3rd year in Berkeley"

Just a thought.

Coming from HLS (or anywhere in the t6), its not hard to crack if you can demonstrate real ties. From my experience, firms react best (by far) to students who did their undergrad there, worked there, are from CA, etc, or have some other compelling reason to want to work in the bay area. If you are a good student from the t6 (top 30%+) AND you can show ties, you will not have trouble getting multiple callbacks and offers.

Its not sufficient to say, "I really like the bay area" - you have to show commitment. So I'd absolutely suggest spending your 1L summer in SF, especially if you have no other ties to the area. This seems to be very important to SF firms.

shmoo597 wrote:Coming from HLS (or anywhere in the t6), its not hard to crack if you can demonstrate real ties. From my experience, firms react best (by far) to students who did their undergrad there, worked there, are from CA, etc, or have some other compelling reason to want to work in the bay area. If you are a good student from the t6 (top 30%+) AND you can show ties, you will not have trouble getting multiple callbacks and offers.

Its not sufficient to say, "I really like the bay area" - you have to show commitment. So I'd absolutely suggest spending your 1L summer in SF, especially if you have no other ties to the area. This seems to be very important to SF firms.

I really would not talk about Harvard as if it's the same as Columbia, Chicago, or NYU for a non NYC job. Going to Harvard as opposed to the latter 3 is going to make a huge difference for someone who wants to work in California. In addition, top 30 percent at HLS and top 30 percent at NYU are 2 very different situations career wise. People are focusing too much on US News and TLS culture. If there's a school with equally high prestige anywhere in the country it's HLS, not CCN.

BruceWayne wrote:I really would not talk about Harvard as if it's the same as Columbia, Chicago, or NYU for a non NYC job. Going to Harvard as opposed to the latter 3 is going to make a huge difference for someone who wants to work in California. In addition, top 30 percent at HLS and top 30 percent at NYU are 2 very different situations career wise. People are focusing too much on US News and TLS culture. If there's a school with equally high prestige anywhere in the country it's HLS, not CCN.

This is true, but I'd still like to emphasize once again that even at HLS it's not easy to get jobs in CA right now unless you're from there or have a hard IP background.

shmoo597 wrote:Coming from HLS (or anywhere in the t6), its not hard to crack if you can demonstrate real ties. From my experience, firms react best (by far) to students who did their undergrad there, worked there, are from CA, etc, or have some other compelling reason to want to work in the bay area. If you are a good student from the t6 (top 30%+) AND you can show ties, you will not have trouble getting multiple callbacks and offers.

Its not sufficient to say, "I really like the bay area" - you have to show commitment. So I'd absolutely suggest spending your 1L summer in SF, especially if you have no other ties to the area. This seems to be very important to SF firms.

Thanks for the input. Do you think that doing a 1L summer in SF would actually be enough to convince an interviewer that I'm "committed" to the area, or would you strongly advise I try to get a job there before LS? I'm currently in an 0L gap year, but I have prior commitments until mid-February this year...so I'm not really sure if working out west from, say, February to July would really make that much of a difference. Anyone's thoughts?

The Bay Area was actually much, much better this year than last year for HLS students. I know plenty of people with average grades who got great offers there. Heck, I know people shut out of DC who got the top firms in SF or SV calling them from the resume book.

Anonymous User wrote:The Bay Area was actually much, much better this year than last year for HLS students. I know plenty of people with average grades who got great offers there. Heck, I know people shut out of DC who got the top firms in SF or SV calling them from the resume book.

Thanks for the comment, that's good to hear. Do you know if these students had significant ties?

Most of the people I know with SF offers at HLS have SF ties (grew up in the Bay Area or went to school in the area). I was questioned about my desire to be in SF because nothing on my resume noted that I had ties in the area, but it's where I grew up. Even having LA or SD ties wasn't enough for some firms.

It should be enough to go work there during 1L summer, however. I think they're just trying to avoid the people who might use SF as a fantasy spot and want people who have actually been to the area and know all of its positives and negatives.

invisiblesun wrote:

shmoo597 wrote:Coming from HLS (or anywhere in the t6), its not hard to crack if you can demonstrate real ties. From my experience, firms react best (by far) to students who did their undergrad there, worked there, are from CA, etc, or have some other compelling reason to want to work in the bay area. If you are a good student from the t6 (top 30%+) AND you can show ties, you will not have trouble getting multiple callbacks and offers.

Its not sufficient to say, "I really like the bay area" - you have to show commitment. So I'd absolutely suggest spending your 1L summer in SF, especially if you have no other ties to the area. This seems to be very important to SF firms.

D o you think that doing a 1L summer in SF would actually be enough to convince an interviewer that I'm "committed" to the area, or would you strongly advise I try to get a job there before LS?

I can't comment from the perspective of someone going to HLS or gunning for CALI, but I'll throw in my two cents. I went to school in a pretty xenophobic market where even going to school there wasn't really enough to convince employers that I was committed to the area. I networked my butt off during 1L year and got pretty good grades, which allowed me to get two 1L summer firm gigs in the area. During OCI, every interviewer commented on how happy they were to see I was committed to staying in the area.

So yeah, I think working 1L summer is probably enough. If you can find a way to support yourself and work before school though, that would be even better.

edit. Good shit.